Beyond the Price Tag

Like life, the lapping waves broke on the shore, only to have another precede it, ever onward and always ending, but with an infinitesimal amount of beginnings. A train glided by whose vibrations rattled the bench I sat on, while a moist breeze licked at the hair on my arms and pushed the hair on my head out of place. And yet, I loved that it was out of place because I felt more in place than ever before.
I watched as a child threw a stone worn smooth by the constant ebbing and flowing of time into the sea. It made a resounding splash which I never forgot, no matter how old and jaded I became. He looked backward toward his father for approval, fully content in his place in the world before continuing.
I tasted the smell of salt in the air as I breathed deeply. It made me want to cough but I kept inhaling, filling myself with as much life until it felt like I would burst. I never wanted to let it go.
And then as I exhaled, I pushed sad thoughts away that it won’t always be like this. I stared intently at a motorboat in the distance, committing as much of the sound and sight to mind so I could forget the sadness; however, it’s always there, even in beauty.
But maybe the sadness is beauty, too I thought. Maybe the sadness is the beauty so that I can see the moments that live beyond the price tag.
A seagull cried as the wind picked up, carrying with it the first drops of a storm. As I gathered my belongings and stood up, I wondered if I could march into the sea, letting the rain consume me as the ocean washed me away and I became beautiful. I, too, want to be beyond the price tag.

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short and fiction